Here’s how you know the Clippers have entered a brave new era – that’s era, wiseacre, not error – they went out and hired a shooting coach to tutor Blake Griffin.

They want the power dunker to be a finesse jump shooter now and then.

It’s the sort of attention to detail that lets you know the Clippers are serious about taking the next step toward becoming one of the NBA’s elite teams. They want their most exciting player to expand his game and his range.

For the Clippers, it’s a move designed to protect their investment in Griffin, who will make a relatively modest $7.2million in 2012-13. His salary skyrockets to more than $13.5million when his new contract begins next season.

More dunks over more opponents mean more chances for another knee injury or maybe a busted nose if some grumpy guy on the other team doesn’t like the idea of appearing on an endless loop on SportsCenter or YouTube.

Besides, more jump shots mean less stress on the body, plain and simple.

After all, Griffin has had four knee injuries in five years.

It’s been a grind, but Griffin has taken his jumper apart and put it back together under the watchful gaze of shooting coach Bob Thate.

They started working together before Griffin joined Team USA for its pre-Olympic workouts in Las Vegas last summer.

“It’s not one of those things where you’re going to look at it and say, `Oh, wow, it’s completely different,”‘ Griffin said. “But for me, the feeling … it’s much more compact. I guess that’s the better word. There’s less chance for error.

“I’ve still got a long ways to go. A lot of times when I would shoot, I would fade back a little bit unnecessarily. Sometimes I would hang and keep the ball up high. We’ve pretty much gotten rid of all that. Now it’s about reps, about shooting the same way.”

Griffin showed off his new “J” during the exhibition season, including during the Clippers’ victory over the Lakers last Wednesday.

Facing off against fellow All-Star power forward Pau Gasol, Griffin showed a deft touch from the perimeter.

He was especially sweet while kissing a pair of jumpers off the glass.

“His release point is better,” coach Vinny Del Negro said. “His balance is better. I think his confidence is better. But it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take some time. Everyone wants it now, but there’s a process involved. He’s putting in all the time and effort he can. You’re going to see more consistency there, and improvement.”

The Clippers don’t want to dissuade Griffin from his trademark drives and dunks. They do believe it might be wiser for him to pull up for the midrange jumper rather than forcing the issue, preserving his knees and extending his career.

After all, the hard fouls seemed to get a little harder after Griffin’s dunks over a string of unfortunate opponents became standard fare on the late-night highlight reels (see: Mozgov, Timofey and Perkins, Kendrick).

Nobody ever blows a fuse after somebody hits an 18-foot jumper over him. But jump over an opponent, use his shoulder or back as leverage with one hand while dunking the ball on his head with the other, watch out next trip down court.

Payback is coming.

“Guys who dunk the ball are going to go through that,” Clippers forward Lamar Odom said, referring to the increase in physical play against Griffin. “That’s the most embarrassing play in the NBA, someone takes the ball and dunks it over you.

“That’s the first thing you see when SportsCenter is on or YouTube or any highlight reel you can think of. A guy can have 25 points and 10 rebounds, but if he gets dunked on three times in a game, that’s what they’re going to show.

“They’re going to show three dunks. Dunks and 3s, right? Blake has to expect that. That’s why getting a nice floater or a nice jump hook, it’ll help his game. He can make his power move and then finish with finesse.”

The combination could make Griffin and the Clippers tough to beat in 2012-13.

Barnes suspended

Backup forward Matt Barnes was suspended by the NBA for tonight’s season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies after pleading no contest in court in the wake of last summer’s altercation with Manhattan Beach police.

Barnes was arrested in July on suspicion of threatening a police officer after he was stopped twice previously on an outstanding traffic warrant. A dashboard camera in a police cruiser caught Barnes making a homophobic slur at an officer.

Elliott Teaford covers the Clippers and the NBA for the Southern California News Group. He has written about hockey for the past five years and is looking forward to thawing out after so many days and nights sitting in frozen rinks. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.

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